I'm just learning and couldn't find an answer to a question in my head! I want to make a tiered cake (no pillars) and I can't figure out how to pull it together. Do I decorate each tier, then assemble...or assemble, then decorate (the tiers will be totally different from each other).
Thanks for the advice. I love this site!

Hi! Welcome!

You want to decorate first then dowel the bottom tier and then stack

do the border between the first and second tier after stacking

see a demo here from the articles tab on cake central
http://www.cakecentral.com/article23-Teired-Stacked-Cake-Construction.html

Good luck

Is this it? www.youtube.com/watch?v=xHY_F53ClJ8

Sounds like you want to make a stacked cake. As with all cakes, torte and fill with whatever filling you are going to use. You then have to crumb-coat each tier. Let these cakes sit overnight, so they can "settle'
Since you are stacking, make sure you dowel rod each tier, so it will support the tiers about it. You decorate each individual tier, before you stack them together. Good luck!

Forgive me....I should have told you correctly that you do decorate the tiers first, THEN dowel rod them for support... Silly me.....

HaHa wrong thread That was for the TT cake

Interesting!

I completely construct the cake prior to decorating it.

Learn something everyday!

Since we're on the subject, I have a question too. When doweling a cake, I've sometimes seen people put one long dowel through multiple layers. Now the stupid question... how the heck do they do that? Is the dowel sharp enough to go through the different cake board supporting the cake?

I'm guessing the answer is sooo simple that I'll be embarassed when I find out.

I ice, then stack, then decorate.

ETA: I will sometimes decorate all fondant layers before stacking, but I definitely decorate BC cakes after they are stacked.

You ladies are the best! Thanks so much!!

I ice my cakes then stack them & decorate....Mine are usually premade flowers so all I am doing is just sticking them on to my tiers.....Good Luck!

I do fondant only and still I tend to stack then decorate. I find this helps with the overall symmetry of the tiers. So the designs on each tier line up well, or are spaced evenly etc.

I think it is all personal preference but also depends on the design you are trying to achieve.

HTH.

I think it depends. I try to think the whole process through in my head while in the planning stage to see if I'll run into any difficulties by doing it one way or the other. For instance, the cake I just made for Easter had a gumpaste fence around the base cake. I had planned for the fence to be a little higher than the top of the cake in places. So I thought there was potential I would brush against these and break some in the stacking process. So I waited until after assembly to apply the fence and decorate it with flowers.

WELL...No one is going to believe me when I tell them that I have been doing cakes for 19 years...Not with the advice I have given on here about decorating a stacked cake! I made two mistakes in the order in which to do it.....Catching one mistake earlier, then catching one now!
Guess I had better learn to read what I have written before I submit it. I too meant that once you have filled your cake with filling, then crumb-coated, then ICED, You should stack the tiers together then decorate! I hope no one runs the next time they see me on here trying to give advice!